Charters on edge of ed reform

Friday

Jun 28, 2013 at 6:00 AMJun 28, 2013 at 10:59 AM

By William F. Weld

When Massachusetts’ landmark Education Reform Act was signed into law 20 years ago, attention was mainly focused on the massive commitment of state resources and the tough new accountability measures. The creation of charter public schools might have seemed almost an afterthought.

But today, it is charter schools that are driving education reform in Massachusetts. Even after two decades of success, many challenges still lie ahead. Now is not the time to retreat from the reforms on which our success was built.

The first 14 charter schools opened in 1995. Today, 76 charters educate about 3.3 percent of Massachusetts’ public school population.

But that growth hasn’t been nearly enough to keep up with demand. Twenty-five new charter schools have been authorized in just three years since Massachusetts increased the cap on the number of students who could attend charters in the commonwealth’s worst-performing school districts. Even with the increase in charter seats, there were still more students on waitlists than attending charter schools in Massachusetts during the 2012-2013 school year.

Charter schools’ success at educating the students they enroll has been well documented. A Stanford University study published earlier this year found that Boston charters are doing more to close achievement gaps than any other group of public schools in the country. It is just one in a steady stream of studies confirming the outstanding performance of Massachusetts charters.

Less attention has been paid to how charter schools’ success is driving the larger education reform debate. The extended school day so many charters use has become a staple of reform efforts across Massachusetts and beyond. Innovation schools, which the commonwealth unveiled in recent years, attempt to bring charter-style autonomy to district schools.

In fact, the enhanced autonomy and flexibility that are a charter school trademark are now routinely included in plans to turn around low-performing schools and school districts.

In Lawrence, where the schools are currently in state receivership, charter school operators have been tapped to play an important role in the turnaround effort. The operators of Lawrence Community Day Charter Public School have stepped in to operate the city’s Arlington School; Boston’s MATCH charter high school is replicating its successful tutoring program at Lawrence High School; Chelsea’s Phoenix Charter Academy is operating a recovery academy for dropouts and at-risk students; and Unlocking Potential, a company led by the former operators of Boston’s Excel Academy, is managing two grade levels at another Lawrence school.

In Boston, Unlocking Potential has been brought in by the district to take over two underperforming district schools. And Mayor Thomas Menino has encouraged more of these charter-district partnerships.

Boston has also pioneered a new compact among charter, district and Catholic schools that ends the “us vs. them” mentality that unfortunately drives debate in so many other local districts. The compact has ushered in a new era of cooperation and best-practice sharing, and has resulted in the district leasing three unused school buildings to charters.

The compact should be replicated in other communities to foster partnerships that can help students in both types of public schools.

Massachusetts charter public schools have come a long way in terms of academic success, impact on the overall education reform debate and working cooperatively with district schools. But the movement still faces powerful opposition.

Charter opponents have marshaled their forces to oppose pending legislation that would remove the charter cap in Massachusetts school districts that score in the bottom 10 percent on MCAS. The commonwealth can’t afford to write off these districts, which enroll nearly 30 percent of all Massachusetts public school students.

The Education Reform Act’s results have even exceeded the expectations of its framers, who gathered on a hot June day in Malden two decades ago for the bill-signing ceremony. Charter public schools have been at the heart of education reform’s success, not just for students who attend charters, but for all the commonwealth’s public school students. Rather than backtracking from what has worked so well, it is time to hit the accelerator and take the next logical step in reform by lifting the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts’ lowest-performing school districts.

Former Gov. William F. Weld signed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act into law on June 18, 1993. He now practices law in Boston.